1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system and method for managing a wireless tagged article.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a conventional method suggested for providing services and information based upon attribute information (for example, owner information) associated with a wireless tag identifier (wireless tag ID) of an article to which a wireless tag is attached.
For example, a following method is disclosed. Where a wireless tag is attached to a train passenger and the passenger gets into a bullet train, a wireless tag reader installed in a door of the bullet train detects the wireless tag of the passenger. Since the name and possessions of such wireless tag holder are already registered in a database, a train conductor refers to the database to find a doctor or a person possessing medicine. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-32587. for example.) There is also disclosed a system for identifying an owner of an article through a wireless tag attached to the article where the article has been illegally abandoned so that the owner is held accountable for the abandonment. Alternatively, where the article has been lost, this system is used to return the article to its owner. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-263611. for example.)
With the above-mentioned conventional technologies, for an owner of one article, only one person or one organization (for example, a company) could be set. Even if an article has a plurality of owners, these owners will be described in parallel, without referencing any hierarchy, thus only resulting in a plurality of contact persons or search results.
Hence, it is difficult to keep track of a status of an article accurately when, for example, the owner of the article has lent the article to the other person or the article is being transported by a transportation company commissioned by the owner. This is because a person other than the owner holds the article.
In the light of the above problems, an objective of the present invention is to provide a management system and a management method for holding information regarding multiple kinds of owners and grasping a status of an article accurately.